Butterfly in the Quantum World by Indu Satija, with contributions by Douglas Hofstadter, is the first book ever to tell the story of the "Hofstadter butterfly", a beautiful and fascinating graph lying at the heart of the quantum theory of matter. The butterfly came out of a simple-sounding question: What happens if you immerse a crystal in a magnetic field? What energies can the electrons take on? From 1930 onwards, physicists struggled to answer this question, until 1974, when graduate student Douglas Hofstadter discovered that the answer was a graph consisting of nothing but copies of itself nested down infinitely many times. This wild mathematical object caught the physics world totally by surprise, and it continues to mesmerize physicists and mathematicians today. The butterfly plot is intimately related to many other important phenomena in number theory and physics, including Apollonian gaskets, the Foucault pendulum, quasicrystals, the quantum Hall effect, and many more. Its story reflects the magic, the mystery, and the simplicity of the laws of nature, and Indu Satija, in a wonderfully personal style, relates this story, enriching it with a vast number of lively historical anecdotes, many photographs, beautiful visual images, and even poems, making her book a great feast, for the eyes, for the mind and for the soul.

The Mandala and The Butterfly celebrates the power of the human spirit with vivid stories of courage, possibility, and success. Answer the invitation to participate fully in life’s secret gifts that your dreams offer you. Real people lead the way in this book of insights and wisdom. “We are the only species in the world with the gift of imagination. It allows us to ponder, predict, and even postpone our destiny. This book, through the sharing of stories, demonstrates the unstoppable strength we all possess when we utilize our imagination to envision and take action in the world ...” Jennie Antolak President, International Center of Coaching, Learning Journeys, MCC.

The rock was always there...until, one day, it wasn't. The rock and the butterfly are a perfect fit. The butterfly takes shelter on the steady rock after hours of flittering and fluttering, and the rock loves to hear of the butterfly's adventures after a long day of sitting in one spot. Then one day the rock isn't where it has always been—and the butterfly is alone. It can't find a comfortable place to rest, and it eventually collapses on the ground. When it wakes, the butterfly realizes that it is lying in the exact spot where the rock used to be, and it takes comfort in all that its beloved friend left behind.

Chuang Tzu's first three chapters are arranged into free verse (in Chinese, in the original word order) and translated, nearly word-for-word, with extensive critical glosses vis-a-vis over fifty Chinese, Japanese, and Western commentators. The exegetical, philosophical, and contemporary implications of these chapters are then meditated upon. Here, in Chuang Tzu's world, all strivings are a play, parodying stories and arguments; each plays off of and refers to the others. Chuang Tzu lived during the third and fourth centuries B.C. Historically, he is the foremost spokesman for Taoism and its legendary founder, Lao Tzu. It was mainly due to the influence of Chuang Tzu that Indian Buddhism was transformed in China into Ch'an into the unique vehicle we usually call by its Japanese name, Zen. This is the most thorough presentation to date of the Chuang Tzu's poetic beauty, philosophical insights, and unity.

Newest work from Mahmoud Darwish--the most acclaimed poet in the Arab world

"We're triplets. Surprise! Everyone thinks I'm the little sister. It's very annoying." Phil, Maddie and Tina are triplets, but Tina has always been the little one. Luckily, Phil and Maddie always protect Tina - they make the best team. But, when they join super-strict Miss Lovejoy's class, they're split up. And Tina has to fend for herself for the first time. To make things worse, Tina has been paired up with class bully, Selma, who NO ONE wants to be friends with. When Miss Lovejoy asks them to help her create a butterfly garden in the school playground, Tina discovers she doesn't always need her sisters - and that there's a lot more to Selma than first meets the eye. A heartwarming story about friendship, bullying and confidence by bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson. She should be prescribed for all cases of reading reluctance. - Independent on Sunday